Wind Direction

Grades 3-8. Duration 45 minutes. Materials and Supplies: $10-100.

Summary. Determine wind direction and identify wind indicators.

Procedure. Use your bubble wand to observe air flow and wind direction. Sharpen your powers of observation finding many different natural indicators. Snap an engineer’s chalk line and use a compass to add precision and quantify your analysis of this cornerstone of sailing. Question where and why the prevailing winds blow for a deeper connection to weather and climate.

Topics: Physics, weather and climate, navigation

Egg Buoyancy Experiment

Grades 3-8. Duration 45 minutes. Materials and Supplies: $10-100.

Summary. Experiment to determine to whether eggs, plastics, and other objects sink or float in fresh and salt water.

Procedure. Use experiments to test hypotheses regarding buoyancy of materials in liquids. Investigate the buoyancy of eggs, plastics, and other objects in fresh and salt water.

Topics: Physics, buoyancy, plastic pollution

Sails and Sail Shape

Grades 3-8. Duration 45-90 minutes. Materials and Supplies: $10-100.

Summary. Measure and investigate the geometry and shape of small boat sails using powerful engineering tools and plenty of chalk.

Procedure. Use sidewalk chalk to trace the outline of mainsails, jibs, and other small boat sails and label the parts of the sail. Snap engineer’s chalk lines to find the straight edges and features that give sails their air foil shape. Measure dimensions using a cloth surveyors tape and calculate areas of triangles and other elements to compare sail area and dimensions using the formulas that you learned in school.

Topics: Mathematics, trigonometry, sailing.

Simple Machines that Press Plants

Activity: Simple Machines that Press Plants.

Grades 3-8. Duration 45 minutes plus 15 minutes (two sessions required). Materials and Supplies: $10-100.

Summary. Press terrestrial plants, flowers, or marine algae using a plant press and once dry mount your botanical specimen on archival paper.

Procedure. Prepare a botanical specimen by arranging pieces of a plant, a flower, or marine algae on a piece of blotter paper, place the specimens (for all participants) in one or more plant presses, and tighten the screws of the plant press. After a few days the dried specimens can be mounted on archival paper and labeled to create a botanical specimen worthy of the finest museums.

Topics: Simple machines, the screw, botany, marine biology.

Simple Machines Scavenger Hunt

Grades 3-8. Duration 30-60 minutes. Materials and Supplies: $0.

Summary. Conduct a scavenger hunt to find, sketch, or photograph simple machines individually or with your team. Score points for machines not previously mentioned.

Procedure. Solo or with your team head around the marina or focus on a single boat for a scavenger hunt to find and document six simple machines: the plane, wedge, the lever, the screw, the pulley, and the wheel Can you capture a video of the machine doing work?

Topics: Physics, simple machines, forces, mechanics.

Habitats and Species Scavenger Hunt

Grades 3-8. Duration 30-60 minutes. Materials and Supplies: $0.

Summary. Conduct a brief or extensive scavenger hunt to find, sample, sketch, or photograph plants and animals in the local marine environment individually or in teams. Score points for organisms not mentioned by others.

Procedure. Solo or with your team head out to find and document marine plants and animals. Scavengers equipped with magnifying lenses can include the sand-sized plankton however most hunters will want to focus on the larger plants and animals. Including all regions allows the greatest number of organisms to be cataloged while focusing on a single environment can be useful in discussing the trophic levels and relationships and who-eats-who.

Topics: Ecology, marine biology, plankton

Biodiversity Puppet Show

Summary: Build on your experience with life in the marine environment to create a 3-act puppet show where plankton reign and apex predators and invasive species take center stage.

Procedure: Prepare and deliver a play in three acts, using a combination of provided puppets (to save time) and puppets that you make from paper and sticks and socks. Create the stage with sunlight and a pelagic zone (the center of the stage), benthic substrates, and vertical zonation along the sides. Act 1 reveals photosynthesis by plankton and marine plants (puppet plankton, puppet seaweed (plankton on a stick or many stuck on a string are helpful strategies to create a realistically dense population). Optionally marine snow appears. Act 2. Whales, krill, fish, and sharks appear and show the audience who-eats-who (puppet whale, krill, fish, sharks). Act 3. Invasive species appear (puppet algae or shellfish (zebra mussels) crowding the native populations.

Topics: Biodiversity, marine biology, invasive species

Sea Level Rise and Ice Melt

Grades 3-8. Duration (part 1) 45 minutes distributed over several hours. (Part 2) 30 minutes distributed over several hours or successive days. Materials and Supplies: $10.

Summary. In the first part you observe and record changes in sea (water) level, and in the second part you perform an experiment to observe the effect of melting ice on water level.

Procedure. This activity has two independent parts. In the first part you observe and record sea (water) level. Make a water level gauge (one gauge for everyone) that can be fixed to an object such as a piling. The gauge should be long enough to span the expected tidal range (with negative numbers, zero, and positive numbers) with increments 0.6’ (15 cm) or finer. In some cases the piling or wall can be marked directly. In other cases a gauge can be made from wood strapping or PVC pipe (sold in 10’ lengths). The gauge should be aligned and fixed at high or low tide for maximum accuracy by moving the gauge up or down so that the number on the gauge matches the predicted tidal elevation. Make and record measurements individually or in teams for a portion of the tide (recording at 30 minute intervals is suggested). Extensions include observations at the beginning of each class, comparisons with the predicted tide, and observations at high and low tide. With patience and opportunity you may observe 1-10cm differences from the expected high tide or low tide level caused by winds and atmospheric storms. In the second activity, with ice brought to class, prepare two beakers half-full of water. Measure the water level in the beaker. Float one or more ice cubes in one beaker, and position the same amount of ice above the water. After all the ice has melted observe and record the water levels in each beaker. The two beakers approximate the conditions at high latitudes where ice on land and floating ice shelves have different effects on water level. Mark the sea level rise forecast in year 2100 to connect the two activities where melting ice on Earth is forecast to raise sea level in coming decades.

Topics: Physics, climate change, oceanography

Knotty Name Bracelet

Grades 3-8. Duration 45 minutes (optionally additional 10 minutes each session). Materials and Supplies: $10-100.

Summary: Learn and tie useful knots to retain beads on a string

Procedure: Begin with simple knots like the figure eight to retain beads on a string, and advance to more useful and challenging knots, eventually forming a bracelet with the double fisherman’s knot and the carrick bend. Re-form your bracelet at the start of each class with a different rope-joining knot. With time and additional sessions the monkey’s fist and soft shackles can be created, splices made in 3-strand and braided rope, and ends can be whipped, increasing your sailing skill.

Topics: Sailing, marlinspike seamanship

Buoyancy with Clay Boats

Grades 3-5. Duration 45 minutes. Materials and Supplies: $10-100.

Summary: Mold a ball of clay into a boat that displaces enough water to carry pennies

Procedure. Start with a ball of clay to create a boat to displace water and float pennies. How many pennies can your boat carry before it sinks? Can you win the penny floating contest with a buoyant boat? Optionally create boats from other materials such as wood or foil. This popular activity forms the second module of the US Sailing REACH program.

Topics: Physics, buoyancy,